


The Snake & His Child

by Smokeycut



Category: Mortal Kombat (Video Games)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dad Tsung, Found Family, I'm just giving my favs a happier ending than either of them got in canon, this is pure wish fulfillment tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 08:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15602247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smokeycut/pseuds/Smokeycut
Summary: Shang Tsung was told to create a monster, but he doesn't see a monster in what he created. He sees only a little girl. Can he condemn her to a life as an assassin? Or is there another choice?





	The Snake & His Child

**Author's Note:**

> So this is the first Mortal Kombat fic I've ever written, despite being a fan of the games since I was tiny. I've always had a soft spot for Shang Tsung and Mileena, but neither of them really got to have a happy ending, so I'm here to fix that. Plus, found family is kinda my jam.

He looked upon her face and found it to be so beautiful that he could not help but weep.

She was born into the twisted darkness of the flesh pits. If such a thing as an abomination ever truly existed, it was her. An infant should not be born with teeth. An infant should not be born with teeth _driving through its own cheeks_ , tearing gashes in the skin that would never heal. They were like razors. From the way she wailed, he couldn’t be certain if her tears were from the shock of birth, or the pain of her demented body. A sneaking suspicion told him it was the latter. 

The Kahn had tasked him with her creation. He had told Shang that failure to deliver the weapon would be met with death. Death was always the price of his failure, both on Earth and in Outworld. To his credit, Shang’s chances of failure in this particular mission were slim to none. Creating a clone of the captured Edenian princess was child’s play to the ancient sorcerer. Splicing her DNA with that of a Tarkatan was trickier, but he had been certain that he could do it. It took dozens upon dozens of attempts, but he finally found a mixture that allowed for a living specimen. 

A living specimen that could never pass for Princess Kitana. Not just the teeth which marred her face, but the eyes as well. Orange and red, like a pair of little coals, burning in her head. Black slits for irises, not unlike the eyes of a serpent. He could see tiny silver shards peeking out of her forearms. Tarkatan blades. He had still used too much of those monsters’ DNA.

She looked up at him, all covered in the waters from the tank he had pulled her from, and she screamed with a voice like broken glass. The metal blades that hid within her arms shot out suddenly, and the sorcerer nearly lost a hand as a result. She was exactly as he had thought. An abomination. A changeling, grown in a vat for the sole purpose of replacing the Edenian princess. A weapon that would be sent off to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament in the hopes that it would bring yet another realm under Outworld’s domain.

She had no name. No family. No soul.

But when he looked down at her, he felt an old, withered part of himself break through the bitter shell that he had embraced years ago. He saw her eyes and thought to himself that they looked like bursting stars. Her cries, they were just the cries of a frightened baby girl, weren’t they? She wasn’t a killer or a weapon, not yet, and she didn’t have to be. She had an entire life ahead of her. Infinite possibilities. Could he really condemn her to a life as Kahn’s assassin?

“Shh. Don’t cry, little one,” Tsung whispered as he cradled her in his arms. He brought her close to his chest and wrapped his robe around her to keep her warm. “Don’t cry… Don’t cry… Don’t cry, Mileena…”

And just like that, she wasn’t a thing anymore. She was a child.

=========================

“So you’ve found me,” Tsung noted dryly. He turned his tea cup in his hands and relished the armoma, paying little mind to the god that stood in his home.

“You left Shao Kahn’s employ, despite years of devoted service. And yet you chose to hide here, in Seido, rather than rejoin the battle for Earthrealm’s sovereignty.” Raiden stepped closer to Tsung, electricity crackling in the air with each motion he made. “I merely wish to know why.”

“I owe you no answer,” Tsung told him.

“You owe me nothing, that much is true. But allow me to ask not as the God of Thunder, but as an old friend. What could have brought you here?” Raiden asked in earnest.

Before Tsung could deny Raiden an answer a second time, the door to his cottage swung open, and both men turned to look at the young woman who stood in the doorway.

She looked to be no older than twenty, but age hardly impacted an Edenian’s appearance. A pink veil covered the lower half of her face, and it matched the color of the ruqun she wore. Long, thick black hair was tied back in a ponytail, but her eyes… There was no hiding her eyes.

“Father? Who is this?” She asked tersely. Her eyes flicked back and forth between Tsung and the man who was intruding in their home.

“An old friend,” Tsung told her with a wave of his hand, repeating Raiden’s attempt to exploit their past familiarity. “Do not worry, Milly. You can remove your veil, if you wish. He will not mind.” 

She relaxed her posture only slightly, his words easing her agitation just a touch. Reaching up with one hand, Mileena untied her veil and pulled it away from her face, revealing the rows of teeth that ran along the sides of her face. 

“I am Raiden, God of Thunder and protector of Earthrealm.” Raiden’s introduction was as formal and devoid of emotion as it could possibly be. Rather than impressing Mileena, the statement served only to confuse and frustrate her further, though she tried not to show it. Similarly, Raiden tried not to show his surprise at her appearance.

“Why are you here?” She asked, her voice harsher than usual. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at Raiden in suspicion. 

“Mileena, be kind to our guest,” Tsung scolded her, yet kept his voice low and measured. He rarely lost his regal composure, even when dealing with his daughter’s outbursts. “He merely wanted to… Check up on me.”

“Hm.” Raiden nodded stoically, then looked back to Tsung. “I believe that all of my questions have already been answered,” he said. There was something deeper behind his words, although Mileena could only guess as to what it was.

“Please, feel free to stay for dinner,” Tsung told him. “Milleena just returned from the market, and I have some Outworld liquor that I’ve been meaning to polish off if you’d like to try some.”

“I’ve never been fond of Outworld’s drink” Raiden said, before smirking ever so slightly. “Fortunately for us, Master Bo’ Rai Cho gave me some sake before I left.”

Tsung had to laugh at that. Leave it to the old drunken master to give a god some booze.


End file.
